The bad batch - when shampoo bar making goes wrong

I've written before about how Tidy solid shampoo bars for men are made in small batches to reduce waste.

Waste is the enemy.

Minimising waste, and where possible eradicating it completely, throughout our shampoo's lifecycle is a top priority for us.

Which is why it pains me to admit that I recently screwed up and ruined a whole batch of our shampoo 😢

It takes about 6 weeks for each batch of solid shampoo we make to cure and be ready to be sold to our loyal customers.

They are placed in their moulds when first mixed. They cure for 1-2 weeks in the moulds and then are removed to be air cured for the remaining 4 weeks or so.

The last batch I made to cover our June / July orders I forgot to take out of their moulds after the first couple of weeks of curing. In fact, I forgot to take them out of the moulds for more than 6 weeks.

The result is all of the bars have discoloured and are unsellable.

Which unfortunately means that we're currently out of stock of our solid shampoo and will be until the next batch is cured and ready for sale in August.

Sorry about that.

Silver-linings

The silver-lining in all of this is that because I only make Tidy shampoo in small batches, the problem hasn't effected 100's of shampoo bars. It could have been a much bigger problem.

And while the effected bars are not sellable they are usable.

They won't go to waste; I'll use them myself so all is not completely lost.

Still. I make the shampoo to sell, not use myself, so it's not ideal.

Rest-assured I'll not be making this mistake again.

The next batch of bars has already been removed from their moulds and I'm keeping an eye on them every 3-4 days to be doubly sure they're curing nicely. 

This was a reminder to never get complacent. Lesson learnt. 

If you'd like to pre-order a bar from the next batch to secure it early, let me know at hello@tidy.company and I'll set one aside for you.